Fatal Return: Fatal, Book 1

by Alex Hansen, Laurel Lefkow (Narrator)

A brutal triple murder. An abandoned psychiatric hospital. And a dark family secret.

Fatal Return is the bloody opening to the Fatal psychological thriller series by Alex Hansen - an Audible Original.

When her father suffers a heart attack, forensic psychologist Gilian moves back from New York to Rochester - much to the annoyance of her pubescent daughter Christina. The moving boxes are not even unpacked when the expert is already called to a crime Sergeant Ryan Moore needs her support to solve a brutal triple murder in the woods of Devil's Bathtub. The joint investigation reopens an old wound in Gilian - for the two workaholics are bound by more than just their unwavering sense of justice.

Genres: Audiobook

Audible Audio

Published February 19, 2026

About the author

Alex Hansen is a part-time writer from Pennsylvania who specializes in interpretive rewrites of elementary school science textbooks.

Just kidding.

But he has written about demons, dystopias and drive-thrus, so maybe nothing is off-limits.

Reviews

[Carol Yarbrough · Rating 1 out of 5]

The narrator was placing emphasis on weird parts of the sentences and while the story seemed engrossing other reviews said it ended stupid so I DNF.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to stay focused but not a bad story. Figured out why the story seemed / sounded 'dis-jointed'. Transitions from one chapter / situation to another, were not well done. Very jolting, which makes it challenging to follow along. Some items didn't really get resolved - why Ryan had such distain for Gillian. If it was ever addressed, I certainly missed it (again, transition issues).

[Cindy Hutcherson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was almost a DNF for me. The characters were flat and the plot was predictable.

[Jules Books 📚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forensic psychologist Gilian returns to her hometown after a family crisis, only to find herself immediately drawn into a brutal murder investigation alongside a detective from her past. The case takes her deep into dark local history, while she also navigates the turbulence of single motherhood with her difficult teenage daughter Christina.
The plot is gripping and the atmosphere is effectively dark throughout. But the book tries to pack too much into too little space and pays the price for it.
Several threads are left dangling with no satisfying resolution. The bullying subplot in particular feels set up to do meaningful work in the narrative and then simply abandoned. Some loose ends may be deliberate setup for later books in the series, but within this volume they still feel unearned.
My bigger issue is with Christina and the mother and daughter dynamic. As Gilian is written as a forensic psychologist, her parenting responses ring particularly odd. The dialogue between them lacks texture and negotiation. Real conversations between single mums and teenagers, even fraught ones, have more layers than this. A psychologist character in particular would bring a far more nuanced toolkit to those exchanges. Instead the scenes feel scripted rather than lived.
That said, the central plot has real momentum and the writing carries you through its flaws. A promising series opener that just needed more room to breathe.

[Sheryl Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going home is never easy. Those who remained continued to build their lives without you and now you have to scramble to figure out what's transpired and how you fit in, if you fit in. Prejudices of the past are hard to let go of when nothing's happened in the intervening years to tie you together. It is like you just left yesterday, even though 20 some odd years have gone by. It is a very uncomfortable place to be and that is the undercurrent that runs through this story.

Our returning protagonist struggles to make all the parts of her life work, as well as scrambling to prove she is adequate for the job she's been hired to do. And then there is dealing her young teen daughter . . .

Investigating is her talent and she is not going to let go of that. She juggles and scrambles and pushes and pulls and somehow manages to not lose her job or her mind as she works to find the answers to the questions running through her mind.

[Krista Beutel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly entertaining but there were storylines that could have been developed further or left out altogether. Apparently this is the first in a series so perhaps those storylines will be fleshed out it in other books.

[Carrie Silvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8*

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

AudioB

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book but when listening, there was not a lot of pause so difficult to know where you were.

[Ffion Griffith · Rating 2 out of 5]

🎧 • 2 stars

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this one very suspenseful

[Jill Murdoch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story! Nice twist at the end!

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending seemed rushed. Will read 2nd book though